Why We Will Never Sell Comodo SSL Certificates

In today's episode of "Clueless Telemarketers Who Don't Do Their Homework" we'll examine cold calls from none other than Comodo SSL certificates. Today we received a voicemail from someone calling from (201) 620-6929. Here's the message they left:



"Hello, we're calling in regards to an expiring security certificate on one of your website and like to talk to you about some renewal options if you can give us a call back at 973-915-3191 the number is 973-915-3191. Thank you."

Notice that at no time do they say the name of the company they're calling from, which is not only extremely unprofessional, but a tactic used by spammers and scammers. At the beginning of the voicemail I can here someone's TV in the background, before the obviously pre-recorded message is played. Yeah, Comodo just gets more professional all the time....NOT.

I did a little Googling, and found the number belongs to Comodo. I also found quite a few businesses posting about Comodo making misleading cold calls, and reporting them going back several years.

"Comodo is performing misleading cold calls designed to trick you into purchasing a SSL certificate with them rather than renewing with your existing provider. Remember when you used to get letters and emails from companies like Domain Registry of America (DROA). I think everyone agreed those were disreputable. Comodo is performing the same sort of activity."

Roger, infosecblog.org, 7/18/2011

Comodo sells SSL certificates. The part their spammer apparently missed is....so do we.

We also don't do business with any vendor that uses these sort of deceptive selling tactics.

Network Slow Connections

The data center is aware of a problem that is causing packet loss and slow connections to the segment of the network that houses our servers. Network Engineers are working to resolve this as quickly as possible. We apologize for the inconvenience.

UPDATE: This issue has been resolved. Thank you for your patience.

WordPress version 4.6 is here!

WordPress version 4.6, "Pepper", is here!

At this time I'm seeing some reports of issues with JetPack and WordPress 4.6, as well as some issues with fonts on the front-end (your website). This WordPress update only changes the fonts in the admin area (back-end) to use system fonts, fonts already installed on your computer or device, making the admin area display faster, so it's unclear why several different users are reporting fonts are displaying differently on the front-end.

This doesn't mean there's anything "wrong" with this version of WordPress, but again this is a major release.  A major release is meant to introduce new features  which may also introduce new bugs. Sometimes it takes a few days or even weeks for all your plugins to be compatible with a new release. Check with each one of your plugins to verify they are compatible before upgrading a major version.

Since this version doesn't contain any security patches, my recommendation is to wait a few days, test the new version on a test site and make sure all your plugins still work.

NOTE: "Waiting a few days" means exactly that.

It does NOT mean "put off the update indefinitely, or just forget about it."

You should always keep your WordPress core, plugins and themes up-to-date.

We strongly recommend you re-read our WordPress upgrade guide and follow the recommendations.

In short:

Minor releases should be applied automatically or as soon as possible; they won't "break" anything.

Major releases should be applied manually, after being tested on a development site and all plugins checked for compatibility. A major release could possibly break something, which is why you need to test first.

Themes and plugins should be manually updated, after testing and checked for compatibility.

If all of this is confusing and seems like too much work (it can be and it is), check out our WordPress Update Service. For only $25 a month we'll take care of all your WordPress updating headaches, and provide you with an ongoing list of what's been updated and when, in case you notice any issues after an update. We also create a test site to test any plugins and themes for compatibility before updating on your live site, so there's never any surprises.

[RESOLVED] Apollo Server is Down

There's a problem with the Apollo server, we're currently investigating.

11:00pm PDT: Still waiting from a response from the data center. Sorry for the disruption. I swear, it's the Sunday night curse.

11:12pm PDT: Apollo server is back up and all services are fully operational. We apologize for the downtime.

[RESOLVED] Power Issue at the Datacenter

We were just notified there's a power issue at the data center; this means all websites will be affected. The notice reads:

Our engineers are actively working on a suspected power issue at our datacenter. We are working with the datacenter team to identify and resolve the issue as quickly as possible. We appreciated your patience as this issue is addressed and resolved.

It was probably my fault - just the other day I was thinking of how long it's been since there's been a server issue. I suppose I jinxed it.

As soon as the Engineers are able to restore power your websites will be back up. As we receive further updates this post will also be updated.

EDIT 5:30pm: All servers, services and websites appear to be back up. If you're still experiencing any issues, please put in a  Support Ticket or talk to us on Live Support Chat.